Near Socorro in El Paso County, Texas — The American South (West South Central)
Rio Vista Farm
El Paso County's second poor farm, known as the El Paso Poor Farm, was established here in 1915. John O'Shea, a wealthy farmer and businessman whose farm was nearby, assumed operation of the farm. His wife, Agnes O'Shea, was in charge of the residents. John O'Shea died in 1929, and the couple's daughter, Helen O'Shea Keleher, came from her home in San Antonio to operate the farm with her mother. The farm was scheduled to be closed in 1929, but, with the troubled times of the Depression era, its population grew. Renamed "Rio Vista Farm," the poor farm hosted a variety of public welfare programs beginning in the 1930s. It operated under the Texas Transient Bureau and later the Federal Works Progress Administration. A temporary base for a Civilian Conservation Corps unit in 1936, the farm continued to shelter hundreds of homeless and destitute adults and children.
From 1951 to 1964, the farm was used as a reception and processing center for the Bracero Program, which brought Mexican laborers to work in the lower valley of El Paso and other agricultural areas in the U.S. New federal welfare programs and state law reduced the population of the poor farm to four, and it was closed in 1964.
Unlike other Texas county poor farms, Rio Vista followed a familial rather than institutional model, accepting neglected and abandoned children in addition to the adult indigent population. In later life, Helen O'Shea Keleher cited the fifty years she spent with the more than four thousand orphans and neglected children of the Rio Vista Poor Farm as her proudest accomplishment.
Spanish:
De 1951 a 1964, la granja funcionó como centro de recepción y procesamiento para el Programa de Braceros, a través del cual personas de México venían a trabajar en el Valle Bajo de El Paso y en otras áreas agrícolas de los Estados Unidos. Con los nuevos programas federales de prestaciones sociales y leyes estatales, la población de Río Vista se vio reducida a cuatro personas, cuando cerro en 1964.
A diferencia de casas de caridad de otros condados de Texas, Río Vista seguía un modelo familiar y no institucional, donde se aceptaban niños descuidados y abandonados y a la población indigente adulta. En sus últimos años, Helen O'Shea puntualizo que los 50 años que paso con más de 4 mil niños huérfanos y abandonados en Río Vista, fueron su logro de mayor orgullo.
Erected 2000 by Texas Historical Commission. (Marker Number 12342.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Notable Places. In addition, it is included in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects series lists. A significant historical year for this entry is 1915.
Location. 31° 39.689′ N, 106° 15.954′ W. Marker is near Socorro, Texas, in El Paso County. Marker is on North Rio Vista Road, on the left when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 800 North Rio Vista Road, El Paso TX 79927, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Socorro Mission La Purísima (approx. 2.2 miles away); Socorro (approx. 2.2 miles away); The Camino Real (approx. 2.2 miles away); Casa Ortiz (approx. 2.3 miles away); Ysleta Plaza (approx. 4.1 miles away); Alderete-Candelaria House (approx. 4.1 miles away); Oldest Mission in Texas (approx. 4.2 miles away); First Mission and Pueblo in Texas (approx. 4.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Socorro.
Also see . . . Rio Vista Farm. National Trust for Historic Preservation website entry (Submitted on July 28, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)
Credits. This page was last revised on July 28, 2022. It was originally submitted on November 15, 2010, by Bill Kirchner of Tucson, Arizona. This page has been viewed 1,431 times since then and 54 times this year. Last updated on July 11, 2022, by Joe Lotz of Denton, Texas. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on November 15, 2010, by Bill Kirchner of Tucson, Arizona. • J. Makali Bruton was the editor who published this page.